Movies, television (TV) shows, and other audio/visual (AN) programs can be distributed in a variety of formats. For instance, if a person wants to watch the movie “Casablanca,” he or she may be fortunate enough to find the movie being broadcast on an analog or a digital TV channel, over the air or through an electrical or optical cable. Alternatively, the person may buy or rent the movie stored on a magnetic medium such as a video cassette tape, or on an optical medium such as a digital versatile disk (DVD). The movie might also be available for downloading from a remote server to a TV set via a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet.
In addition, the person (or “viewer”) might be particularly interested in a specific portion or segment of the program. For instance, the viewer might want to see the scene in Casablanca where Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman “Here's looking at you, kid.” However, with any of the program formats discussed above and conventional program playing devices, it can be difficult to find a specific portion of interest within a program.
In particular, linear navigation of the program may be required. For instance, with a video cassette, the viewer may need to play, fast forward, or rewind the tape until he or she finds the portion of interest. With a DVD or a downloaded program, the program may be divided into chapters, and the viewer may use a remote control to jump to a selected chapter of the program. However, the viewer may not know which chapter contains the specific portion of interest, and even if he or she does know which chapter contains the portion of interest, the viewer may still need to play or fast forward through at least some of that chapter before finding the specific portion of interest.